Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Vittoria sighed, lifting her arms up above her head, linking her hands and stretching her back out. She moved her head from side-to-side, hissing lightly as she worked out a kink in her neck. And I frowned. “What are you doing?”
She jumped, spooked, and when she turned to face me, I found her glare to be even more adorable than her smile. “Jesus Christ. Don’t do that. I have the heart of a canary. One bad scare is all it’ll take. You’ll find me cold and lifeless on the cage floor in the morning.”
A reluctant smile pulled at my lips.
I was coming to find that my wife was funny.
I observed my sleeping daughter. “Why isn’t she in bed?”
Vittoria had since gone back to typing. “She said you normally let her stay up to watch Love Island.”
My, “She’s twelve. You let her watch that garbage?” had her stilling.
Her wide eyes somehow looked even larger when gave herself away by nodding as she nervously choked out, “No.” Her gaze went from Ella then back to me and what she said next, she whispered, “But don’t ask her because, you know, she doesn’t like me so she’s going to say I let her watch that…” she swallowed hard. “…garbage, you know, to get me in trouble.” When my eyes were drawn to the pile of chocolate wrappers on the table, Vittoria shrunk in on herself and she muttered timidly, “Also, somebody let Ella eat those.”
I was close to laughing. “Was that somebody you?”
She shook her head but her body slumped as she confessed, “Yeah.”
Fuck me, I almost couldn’t stand it. I needed to get my daughter into bed so I could get my wife into bed. So, I scooped my daughter up and tucked her in, but when I tried to use the same tactic on my wife, she stopped me with one hand to my chest while she continued to type with the other. “Tor, I can’t leave this. Vincenza said it needs to be done by tomorrow.”
Pardon me?
I wasn’t sure I heard her right.
“Do what?” came my abrasive question.
“You know.” She shrugged like it was no big deal. “Balancing the books.”
My expression darkened and for a second, my anger threatened to spill out through my mouth. But one look at my beautiful wife had me reigning it in. I calmed myself before asking, “She’s got you doing Vero books? Running numbers?”
My tone, although even, must have given away my displeasure because Vittoria instantly jumped to excuses for her sister. “It’s just that I’ve always done them and nobody knows my system so I guess it’s just easier if…”
I put my hand to the laptop lid and began to push on it. Slowly, it closed, giving her enough time to snatch her fingers back.
What I said next was not up for debate. “It’s late and we’re going to bed.”
“But I need to…” The worry in her gaze as she glanced at the shiny exterior of the laptop had my jaw clenching.
Something about her restlessness brough on my own and I truly hadn’t meant to growl the words at her. “They can wait.” She shrunk in on herself and regret coursed through me. I sighed, closing my eyes.
Fucking hell.
For months, I watched Vittoria grow from an undernourished bud to a poised, dew coated, sparkling white rose. And, goddamn Vincenza Vero, the motherfucking strangling vine, comes back on the scene and here we are again. I was not going to let Enza suck the spirit out of my wife. Not when it had taken her this long to find it again.
Fuck Vincenza and fuck her manipulative power trip. Tomorrow, I dealt with the Vero Famiglia and let them know how this was going to go down.
I hoped I sounded convincing when I said, “I’ll get it back to them.”
I must have because when I attempted to scoop her up a second time, she let me and her mouth worked my pulse point, sucking and kissing, the entire way up to our bedroom. Her eagerness meant what should have been a nice, comforting welcome home turned into an impatient fuck against the column post of my bed with one arm twisted behind her back while the other scratched at my forearm as my hand wrapped around her throat.
But afterwards, exhausted but sated, we dozed wrapped in each other’s arms. I stoked her luscious hair and she ran her fingernails over the coarse stubble at my jawline. Our faces close, we breathed as one, unable to stop from planting barely-there kisses wherever they could reach. And when Vittoria nuzzled into my throat, my heart thumped hard in my chest. I didn’t think there was more natural feeling in the fucking universe than being here like this with her.
I liked it a lot.
Together, we slept.
We slept soundly.
Chapter 18